Conveyer control apparatus



1954 R. s. COLEMAN ,66

CONVEYER CONTROL APPARATUS Filed June 10, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor mflfJ. (MM

R. S. COLEMAN CONVEYER' CONTROL APPARATUS Feb. 2, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 10, 1948 INVENTOR ROBERT s. COLEMAN A BY M 614 Patented Feb. 2, 1954 OFFICE CONVEYER CONTROL APPARATUS Robert Sheldon Coleman, Burton-on-Trent, England Application June 10, 1948, Serial No. 32,229

3 Claims. (Cl. 198-21) This invention relates to conveyor control apparatus.

The object of the invention is to provide apparatus for controlling goods or packages or any other matter being conveyed by travelling conveyors at the point where a branch line and a main track or any two conveyor lines converge, the apparatus being entirely mechanical and operating automatically so that it will be unnecessary to have an attendant stationed at the converging point to arrange the flow of goods from the junction.

The invention consists in apparatus having two control arms, one extending over each of the two converging conveyor lines, the arms being interconnected by mechanical linkages, the opening of either of the control arms being arranged to actuate the linkages in such a way that the other control arm is simultaneously locked in the closed position and remains closed and locked until the arm which has been opened returns to the closed position, whereupon the locking action on the other arm is relieved and the said other arm is free to open when required.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan showing the parts in one of their operative positions.

Figure 2 is a plan showing the parts in the other of their operative positions.

Figure 3 is a plan view illustrating the position of the parts when no traific is present along either conveyor.

The apparatus comprises a frame embodying a plate l which will be hereinafter referred to as the base plate. Certain pivots and pins will be hereinafter mentioned as upstanding from this base plate. The frame will be completed by a second plate exactly similar to the plate I0 and drilled to fit on to the upper ends of these pivots and pins, where it will be located and secured by nuts or other means. Th second plate has been omitted from the drawings to avoid showing the working parts in dotted lines. One of the upstanding pivots is shown at H. Around it is fitted a boss I2 to which are fixed two levers I3, I 4. The parts l2, l3 and [4 form an integral lever unit which can swivel round the fixed pivot I l At the outer end of the lever l3 a link l3 is pivotally connected, and to the opposite end of the link l3 two further links l3 l3 are pivotally connected. The opposite end of the link 13* is pivoted to a fixed pin 15 upstanding from the base plate Ill. The opposite end of the link I3 is pivotally connected to a lug l6 which is fixed to a boss I! which is free to swivel round a fixed pivot l8 upstanding from the base plate Ill. The lug i6 is attached to an arm which controls one of the converging conveyors, the arm being indicated at 20, and being of suitably rigid and robust construction. At the outer end of the lever l4 a link I l is pivotally connected and to the opposite end of the link I4 two further links l4, M are pivotally connected. The opposite end of the link [4 is pivoted to a fixed pin 2| upstanding from the base plate Ill. The opposite end of the link [4 is pivotally connected to a lug 22 which is fixed to a boss 23 which is free to swivel round a fixed pin '24 upstanding from the base plate I 0. The lug 22 is attached to an arm 25, similar to the arm 20, the arm 25 controlling the other converging conveyor. The arms 26, 25 have tail-pieces 20, 25 which are connected by a coil spring 26.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows:

The apparatus is placed immediately before the junction of two conveyors A and B as shown in Figure 3 and, whose approximate lines of travel are indicated by the arrows A and B. For the sake of convenience the conveyor A will be hereinafter referred to as the branch line, and the conveyor B will be hereinafter referred to as the main track, but this is quite arbitrary. Figure 1 shows the arm 25 controlling the branch line A open, to allow the passage of trailic along the conveyor through the control point on to the main track B. Traific along the main track B through the control point is prevented by the closed position of the arm 20. In this position as shown in Figure 1, the arm 20 is locked, and pressure against it in the general direction of the arrow 13' caused by oncoming trafiic along the main track will not move it. The effect of such pressure against the arm 20 will be communicated to the lug l6, which will push against the link l3 approximately at right angles. The pressure will be communicated to the links l3 and I3 pressure on 13 is taken by the fixed pin 15 and pressure on [3 is communicated to the lever unit [3, l4, tending to slew it, but such slewing is resisted by the links I4, I4 14, which are held in th position shown by the pressure of traffic on the arm 25, so long as traffic continues to pass through the control point along the branch line A; In the Fgure 1 position, therefore, the arm 20 is immovably locked in the closed position while the arm 25 remains open. When traffic along the branch line A ceases, however, the arm 25 is no longer held in the open position by the pressure of the passing trafiic, and consequently it is pulled into the closed position, as shown in Figure 2, under the action or the spring 25. The consequent 

